Entrepreneurship

Plant-strengthening product from residual products in sugar production

Växtresurs Sverige AB / Erik Andreasson

Extract from a by-product from production of sugar from sugar beet, sugar beet extract (SBE), can give rise to further opportunities in the prevention of diseases and better growth in the potato plant.

The aim is to develop a plant-enhancing product that can be used to reduce disease attacks mainly in potatoes. The product may be of importance to both growers and consumers of potatoes, but in future also berries and ornamental plants. Even in the sugar beet industry and the forest tree nursery sector there are large volumes of cultivation, where SBE can be used.

The product increases the ability to produce and consume healthy products that do not need or require less fungicides.

IV Bracelet

Frida McCabe

The IV Bracelet is a product developed for use in intravenous treatments to increase patient safety and comfort while reducing a nurse’s workload. The product is an easy-to-use bracelet that the patient wears during treatment and on which intravenous tubing is attached to hold it and the needle in place throughout the treatment. The purpose of the product is to provide increased freedom and safety for patients undergoing intravenous treatment and to facilitate for staff. Today, nurses spend several hours a week just on replacing needles that have been pulled out or have been inserted wrongly.

A major challenge in the war against cancer is to find ways to diagnose and treat the disease at an early stage when the cancer is still curable. This calls for sensitive and effective diagnostic tools that can sense the cellular state early in the process. Low cost tools will become especially important given that more than half of cancer cases and mortality occur in low- and middle-income countries, and these proportions are expected to increase by 2025.

New wound treatments based on our body´s own anti-infective mechanisms

in2cure AB/Artur Schmidtchen

We are approaching an ´post-antibiotic era´ where antibiotics will have much decreased efficacy, and antiseptics are not desirable due to side-effects, resistance, or toxicity. Therefore, the new drugs developed by in2cure AB are of high relevance and clinical need. The global wound care market is estimated is forecasted at $26-30 billion by 2018. The unique capacities of BioCure gel will enable us to address a significant portion of the market for advanced formulation and hydrogels.

The strawberry app – a new tool for forecasting, warning, and better understanding

BioPrio AB / Johan Stenberg

The purpose of the project is to develop a functional smartphone application that helps strawberry growers 1) to identify harmful organisms and 2) to share this information with other growers, researchers and the public. The advantage is that growers can carry out pest control measures with a higher target precision, which leads to significantly lower use of unnecessary pesticides. Since data on organisms are posted on a website, other growers can be warned, and researchers can compile damage forecasts.

Repamera – the whole of Sweden’s tailor

Repamera AB / Henning Gillberg

Repamera was founded in January 2017 with the vision “It’s easier to repair than buy new in Sweden”. Since then, over 500 customers throughout Sweden have used the service, of which 15% are recurring customers every month. Initially, clothes were collected in Malmö / Lund and surrounding areas, but since August 2017, the service is offered throughout Sweden – online by mail order. The target group are middle-class families who live in suburbs, smaller towns or in rural areas and who are not close to a tailor. Repamera is a modern service, much like Linas Matkasse. All the tailors were born abroad and have lived in Sweden for less than 10 years. Craftsmanship is high, but Swedish language skills are unfortunately low. Through collaboration, the tailors must read the customers’ “message to tailor”, which means that they learn new words every day.

Today, congestion, emissions and noise are a major problem in city centres around the world. The amount of transports increases year by year, e-commerce grows by 10% -20% annually in both the western world and in Asia. Starke Cycles, a bicycle which is larger than other transport bikes, can change how goods are transported in cities, to become more sustainable, efficient and environmentally friendly, with less congestion, noise and emissions, for city ​​centres teaming with life, commerce and socializing. The bike delivery service, MOVEBYBiKE forms the basis, which with other bike delivery services proves that it is possible. The trend of spiraling goods flows in cities is visible everywhere. Especially in Europe and the western world, it is questioned why large, dirty, noisy vehicles can take up so much space in city ​​centres.

Design of plants with increased photosynthesis and carbon dioxide absorption

Per Kjellbom

Proteins serve as water channels in the membrane of plant cells controlling the flow of water, both in cells and the whole plant. These proteins that act as water channels in the cell membranes are called aquaporins. The pilot project will specifically investigate how aquaporins in the chloroplast of plants interact and how they impact photosynthesis and carbon dioxide fixation. The overall aim of this proof-of-concept project is to verify that it is possible to design plants with increased photosynthesis and increased carbon dioxide fixation, which would be a welcome asset when carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise. Genetically modified agricultural plants with increased photosynthesis and carbon dioxide fixation can be patented just like agricultural plants which have been bred in the traditional way, e.g. via cross-breeding.